Pushing the pause button to save lives

The most dramatic example of good use of the pause button is during a hostage situation. Hostage situations arise in several different contexts. Sometimes hostages are taken to make a political point. Sometimes hostages are taken in an old-fashioned kidnapping for financial gain. The most common hostage situation arises because something went wrong in a robbery. With today’s swift communications techniques, officers often arrive on the scene of a crime as the perpetrator is coming out the front door, which sends the criminal running back into the building. When that happens, the scared criminal is trapped and has a brand new problem on his hands: the unplanned holding of whoever is inside the bank or store. The criminal doesn’t have time to figure out what a pickle he is in and usually thinks he has some terrific advantage. What happens in real life is that some highly skilled, well-trained law enforcement officials swoop in to negotiate for the release of hostages. The police have a simple mission: Do nothing to endanger the hostages or to prevent getting them out safely.
The television cameras generally focus on some cool cop trained for the task of lead negotiator. This person was typically trained at the twoweek FBI school in Quantico, Virginia. Where does all that cool come from? Truth is that no one can be counted on for constant cool. That’s why a member of the support team is in charge of the pause button. This member’s main task is to continually monitor the entire situation to be sure that all the officers keep their cool —no grandstanding, no heroes, just a lot of hard work. This officer insists on taking enough time to get the captor’s demands in detail. Without such a pause, a captor rarely thinks through and states demands so specifically. If the demands are laid out clearly, the negotiation closes successfully more often than not. The captor usually walks out with his hands over his head. Next time you see such a situation on television, try to find the person standing calmly near the lead negotiator. That person is probably the keeper of the pause button. Wouldn’t it be great to have one person in your life in charge of keeping the cool? But you’re on your own; you have to pack your own pause button. Don’t leave home without it.